Left-leaning Mexican politician and author Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, also known as AMLO, is well-known for his writing prowess. He was raised in a middle-class household and joined the Institutional Revolutionary Party at the age of 23. (PRI). He dedicated his entire career to helping the local indigenous population, starting as the director of the Instituto Indigenista in Tabasco. When his attempt to enshrine party democracy failed, he left the PRI. He later joined the National Democratic Front (PRD in later years), and at the age of 35, he campaigned for governor of Tabasco on its platform. He began working at the local level after his election loss, not just to build a foundation for his party but also to protect the environment. He ran for president on behalf of the PRD in 2006 and again in 2012, however, he was unsuccessful on both occasions. He then quit PRD to found MORENA (National Regeneration Movement). He is presently a presidential candidate for the 2018 election.
Young Adulthood & Childhood
On November 13, 1953, Andres Manuel López Obrador was born in Tepetitán, a municipality in the southern Mexican state of Tabasco that is part of the municipality of Macuspana. Andrés López Ramón, his father, was a trader. Manolo Obrador González was the name of his mother.
Of his parents’ seven children, he was the second to be born. José Ramón López Obrador, his older brother, was killed while he was a child while handling a rifle. His younger siblings include a sister named Candelaria, four brothers named Arturo, Pó Lorenzo, José Ramiro, and Martin, and one sister named Martin.
His childhood pals recall him as amiable, cheerful, and relaxed. His early years were incredibly carefree and joyful. His favorite pleasure was boating in the lagoons that surrounded the town. He also played center field for the baseball team. He had considered becoming a professional baseball player as well.
He enrolled at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in 1973. (UNAM), In 1976, he received a degree in public administration and political science. He also joined the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in 1976 and backed Carlos Pellicer Cámara, el Poeta de América.
Early Career Developmental
López Obrador started his professional life in 1977 as the head of the Instituto Indigenista in Tabasco. During his time in office, he supported indigenous literature while also starting a number of social programs to benefit the state’s Chontal Maya population.
He helped the indigenous community by constructing 1906 homes and 267 latrines in the communities of Central, Center, Jalpa de Méndez, Jonuta, Macuspana, Nacajuca, Tacotalpa, and Tenosique. In his region, he also started the Livestock Credit Program for the underprivileged.
He had ridges constructed in the Municipality of Nacajuca in order to reclaim agricultural land. He gave this to the landless natives so they could now cultivate crops for their own consumption or to sell. Additionally, he constructed hospitals and schools for them.
Instituto Indigenista was López Obrador’s employer until 1982. He successfully managed Enrique González Pedrero’s election campaign that year, and he went on to become the governor of Tabasco.
López Obrador was chosen to lead the Institutional Revolutionary Party’s state executive committee at the start of 1983. (PRI). When his attempt to democratize party proceedings was met with resistance from party members, he resigned from his position in November 1983.
His decision to resign from his position as the state chapter’s president of the party nearly ended his political career. But soon Clara Jusidman encouraged him to accept the position of director of social promotion at the Instituto Nacional del Consumidor, saving him from this political void.
He relocated to Mexico City in 1984 to start working at the Instituto Nacional del Consumidor. He is an active author who released his debut book, “The First Steps, Tabasco, 1810-1867,” in 1986. He sent in his thesis the next year and received his Ph.D.
“Del splendor a la Sombra: The Restored Republic, Tabasco, 1867-1976,” his second book, was released in 1988. He left his position to join Democratic Current, a newly established PRI dissident group, that same year. It ultimately resulted in the National Democratic Front being created (FDN).
López Obrador was nominated as a candidate for the position of governor of Tabasco by the coalition of small leftist parties known as Election Candidate FDN, which included the Mexican Socialist Party (PMS), the Popular Socialist Party (PPS), and the Cardenista Front National Reconstruction Party (PFCRN). Having received only 20.9% of the vote, he utterly failed.
Following the 1988 election, FDN called for its invalidation, charging the incumbent party with electoral fraud, including ejecting its representatives forcibly from polling places. López Obrador embarked on a tour to inform his compatriots of “the climate of authoritarianism and repression” after their request was turned down.
In response to the accusations, the authorities reacted brutally and detained several of their activists without warrants. Some of them never came back. Additionally, they expelled the front’s elected representatives from local authorities using the state police.
López Obrador was elected party leader in the state of Tabasco in 1989 after the FDN merged to become the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). The 1988 Tabasco elections were exposed as a fraud in his third book, “Tabasco, Victim of a Fraud,” which was published the following year.
López Obrador joined the “Exodus for Democracy” march, which began on November 25, 1991, in Villahermosa, the capital of Tabasco, after the PDR lost the election in 1991 despite winning seats it had predicted. On January 11, 1992, he arrived in Mexico City by walking from the front.
On January 28, 1992, the result of their protest was the resignation of Salvador Name Castillo, the governor of Tabasco. He relocated to Veracruz in May to support Heberto Castilloas, the PRD’s nominee for governor of the state.
Beginning in the early 1990s, he also organized neighborhood demonstrations against environmental harm inflicted in Tabasco by the government-owned Mexican Petroleum Company (PEMEX). He continued his political work at the same time, helping to build the party from the ground up.
López Obrador ran for governor of Tabasco in 1994, but he lost to Roberto Madrazo Pintado of the PRI with only 38.7% of the vote. Following the election, he accused his rival of engaging in dishonest behavior by exceeding his budgetary limits.
Additionally, he charged that more than 70% of the ballot boxes included errors, a charge that was supported by independent organizations like the Instituto Federal Electoral. The election was deemed a sham by the Tabasco Human Rights Committee as well. Madrazo Pintado resisted saying that there was anything wrong with his election, as was to be expected.
On April 22, 1995, López Obrador began a second march toward Mexico City in which he called for the annulment of the election and brought up additional pertinent topics, such as the privatization of the Mexican Petroleum Company. The march, which was dubbed the “Caravan for Democracy,” elevated López Obrador to the position of one of the PRD’s most significant leaders and enhanced his support.
Between History and Hope: Corruption and Democratic Struggle in Tabasco, his fourth book, was released in 1996. In the same year, he increased his opposition to the Mexican Petroleum Company and tried to obstruct oil wells. He appeared on television covered in blood after a fight with the police and gained popularity as a result.
The party’s leader
López Obrador was elected president of PRD in 1996 and served in that capacity from August 2, 1996, until April 10, 1999. The party’s influence in national politics greatly grew during this time.
The party obtained 125 seats in the parliamentary election of 1997, moving up to the position of second-largest political force in the Chamber of Deputies. In the same year, it was able to win an absolute majority in the Legislative Assembly of Mexican City, establishing a government led by Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solórzano, one of its founding members.
The PRD teamed up with the Labor Party and the Ecologist Green Party of Mexico in 1998, and as a result, they were able to win the state elections in Tlaxcala and Zacatecas. Both locations were able to elect their own men to serve as governors and establish governments.
In an alliance with the Labor Party, the PRD won the state election in Baja California Sur in 1999. The following year, López Obrador released “Fobaproa: Expediente Abierto: Resend y Archivo,” his sixth book.
The Mexico City mayor
López Obrador was chosen as Mexico City’s Jefe de Gobierno (Head of Government) in July 2000. In this role, he started a number of social programs that provided financial support to the city’s most disadvantaged residents. During his administration, the Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de México was also constructed.
Rudy Giuliani, a former mayor of New York City, assisted him in implementing a zero-tolerance attitude toward the rising crime in Mexico City. He promoted private real estate investment by providing tax breaks to building companies in order to meet the housing needs of the city’s population.
He also started plans to renovate Mexico City’s historic downtown while simultaneously modernizing it and establishing lovely neighborhoods for middle-class residents to live and shop in. He also implemented a number of plans to enhance the city’s traffic flow.
His critics attempted to have him removed from office for contempt of court in May 2004. Many thought that the action was politically motivated and intended to disqualify him from running for president. When a million people demonstrated their support for him by marching across the city in April 2005, the impeachment process was abandoned.
A bid for the presidency of Mexico
López Obrador was announced as the PRD’s pre-candidate for president in the 2006 general election in September 2005. By that time, he had already begun his campaign with “50 basic commitments to the people of Mexico,” traveled the entire nation, and interacted with many delegates.
Early surveys had Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, his opponent, significantly behind him. His triumph was likewise predicted by the exit poll. However, it was discovered that Calderón had won by a margin of 0.56% of votes when the results were announced. A significant protest resulted from it.
As a result of the Federal Electoral Tribunal’s decision that the election was fair, Calderón was able to take the oath of office. After that, López Obrador stepped up his agitation and proclaimed himself the “legitimate president” of a parallel government in front of a sizable crowd in Mexico City’s Zócalo.
As the PRD’s presidential candidate in 2012, López Obrador faced off against Enrique Pea Nieto of the PRI and Josefina Vázquez Mota of the PAN. He came in second place, receiving 31.64% of the vote. A partial vote recount confirmed Pea Nieto’s victory, despite his accusations that the PRI had purchased votes and spent excessively.
Developing MORENA
López Obrador declared on September 9, 2012, that he was leaving PRD “on best of terms.” Lega a
He presented the “Alternative Project of the Nation 2018-2024” in 2017. Soon after, he formed an electoral coalition with the Labor Party and Social Encounter Party. In a statement headlined “Juntos Haremos Historia” (Together We Will Make History), the coalition named him as a pre-candidate for the July 1st, 2018, federal election.
He continues to criticize NAFTA and the current administration’s decision to allow foreign investment in Mexico’s energy sector in his campaign speeches. Although the foreign press labels him a populist for doing this, he is unwavering in his choice.
He has maintained his writing throughout, releasing his 15th book, “2018 La Salida,” in 2017. He called on his countrymen to eradicate corruption and instill honesty as a way of life, reiterating that corruption is Mexico’s biggest issue.
Personal Legacy & Life
López Obrador wed novelist and ex-teacher Roco Beltrán Medina in 1979. Jose Ramon López Beltrán, Andres Manuel López Beltrán, and Gonzalo Alfonso López Beltrán were three of their offspring. In 2003, Roco Beltrán Medina passed away. He wed Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller in 2006. Their son, Jess Ernesto López Gutiérrez, was born into the couple.
Estimated Net Worth
A Mexican politician named Andrés Manuel López Obrador is worth $500,000. In November 1953, Andrés Manuel López Obrador was born in Tepetitan, Tabasco, Mexico. He is Mexico’s 58th president.